The invention relates to a drive belt comprising an endless carrier band supporting plate-shaped tranverse members each having a central recess for the band, the recess being bounded by a bottom edge, two upstanding side edges and at least one top edge portion, and each provided with means for maintaining the positions of the members relative to one another.
Providing the transverse members with a central recess for the band instead of with two recesses which end into the respective upstanding side edges has several advantages: the transverse members have less tendency to tilt during use of the belt, there is no fast destruction of the entire carrier bandpacket when one of the bands thereof breaks; when the members have the same height the members with a central recess have a greater edge surface which is into contact with the pulleys and the loading of the transverse member is better.
It is, however, in such a configuration not possible to close the upper edge of the recess by a separate locking element, as the thickness of the transverse member is only small. Thus the locking of the carrier band must be effected by parts of the transverse member which lie above the recess so that the entry to the recess is restricted. Then the carrier bands undergo a strong deformation when they are brought into the recess which makes it impossible to use bands of a high quality; another possibility as proposed in Dutch Patent Application No. 79,00923 is to bend out the parts of the transverse members prior to the insertion of the bands and bend them back into shape afterwards. However, this is only possible when one uses pliable transverse members with low hardness.
The aim of the invention is to eliminate these drawbacks.